


Drunk In Love

by liam_and_ziam



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Aashiqui 2 AU, Alcohol, Alcoholic Zayn, Alternate Universe, Drummer Josh, Fluff and Angst, Keyboardist Harry, M/M, Manager Louis, Vocalist Liam, guitarist niall, popstar zayn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-13
Updated: 2014-04-13
Packaged: 2018-01-19 06:17:19
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 19,243
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1459036
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/liam_and_ziam/pseuds/liam_and_ziam
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Since Zayn knows that alcohol is an evil to the society, he decides to contribute for the betterment of the society by consuming and finishing it up all by himself.<br/>Zayn's other noble works include-fulfilling Liam's every dream and trying to keep him happy, no matter what.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Drunk In Love

Zayn Malik was living his dreams, all he ever wanted was right in front of him. A microphone, a guitar in his hand and most importantly his fans cheering for him. So he did what was asked from him to do, that is, to sing. To sing like his modest had asked him to sing. To sing like the biggest popstar at the moment does.

 

But not like Zayn, not like that 16 year old Zayn who sang stringing guitar while sitting on the roof of his house.

Singing his own composed song, singing without being under some restriction and singing without following someone's order - granted him freedom, gave him the happiness that he couldn't express in words, there was this strange but good sense of fulfillment he felt back then.

But today, when he is here, facing a sea of people cheering for him, he is lost, he feels all alone, he feels as if he doesn't belongs here. Which, if you ask him is weird as fuck because this was all he ever dreamt of, this fucking job was his ultimate dream, and now when he is here, he is not living it.

The mere thought of it makes him falter, but he continues singing anyways.

 

But then this job of his, has provided him with all the luxuries of the world.

And most importantly it has helped him to add more and more bottles of Macallan, Glenfiddich, Glenfarclas and Jack and Daniel's in his ever so increasing collection of alcohols, at his personal bar sort of thing back home. (A personal bar that he had taken a very keen interest in designing it himself, and for which Louis may or may not have teased him that this is the only other time he had seen Zayn passionate about something other than singing.)

 

 

"So yeah, that’s then Wolverhampton, thanks for being ever so lovely, see you until next time. A massive thank you to the band, the crew and you lovely audience. Have a good night, bye" Zayn cheers zestfully through his mic.

With that, he ends his gig and runs backstage. He stumbles into a room assigned to him, where he is greeted by Louis who is sprawled out on the couch, has mobile in his hand and doing what Louis Tomlinson does to kill his time.

 

"Hey Tommo, I'm going out to explore this city and I am taking your car" Zayn informs while hurriedly collecting his beanie, his aviator and Louis's car key. "Bye" he waves and darts towards the door.

 

" _WHOA_ , wait, wait there Malik" Louis shrieks while running past Zayn and closing the door behind him. He then turns to face Zayn and takes a moment to regain his breath. "Wandering alone in an unknown city is not one the wisest idea, I reckon" he says as he watches Zayn, who is already tucking his well styled quiff in a beanie and wearing his aviator "and as far as my common sense goes, one doesn't wear an aviator at what - 11 at night" he states, glancing at the wall clock behind Zayn.

 

"That’s to disguise myself, you idiot, C'mon now move" Zayn replies while physically forcing Louis out of his way, but soon he realizes that the boy in front of him is a fucking athlete, much more stronger than him and thrice more stubborn than what Zayn is. So he decides to emotionally blackmail the bastard in front of him.

"Louis please, all I need is few moments for myself, I am so tired" he says resting his head on Louis's chest, "so tired of this noise, this same routine. All I am asking is few moments of calmness, few moments away from this noise and that I reckon, I'll get by doing exactly what you said..." he says raising his head and looking at Louis, who now looks confused, "that is, wondering alone in an unknown city" he adds and before he knew there were tears streaming down his cheeks. _Shit, from where the fuck did these tears come._ This was so not how he planned it to be.

But it works.

 

Because Louis suddenly looks very rueful and starts wiping away Zayn's tear and dolefully replies "Fine, you emotionally blackmailing dumbass, go have your fucking moment of calmness or whatever you call it. But please be safe, Drive slow, wear those fucking seat belt and for fuck's sake try not to kill yourself. Be aware of strangers and most importantly.." he narrows his eyes and pokes Zayn's chest "please don't find a local pub or bar and get wasted Zayn. And what the fuck, Zayn stop smiling like a hyena now" he smacks Zayn's shoulder "it’s your bloody liver, you wanker, you should be concerned about it, not me. You are already under medication, you know that, yeah?" Zayn nods "Great, so yeah, don't get wasted, that’s all I'm asking."

And before Louis knows, he is engulfed in a tight hug and is rewarded by a sloppy kiss on his cheek, which of course he wipes away making face while also moving aside and opening the door for Zayn "Go now"

 

Zayn obliges and steps out of the room, but turns back and looks once at Louis, he doesn't say anything but hopes that his eyes convey his gratitude.

"Okay mommy, I'll do all that you beseeched except the last one. Sorrrryyy" he shouts back as he sprints towards the car.

And with that, he is off to find _ataraxia_ , by which he means a local bar.

 

 

*

He looks away from the road for just a moment or so, down to the car radio to change the F.M station because the current one is playing one of his song, and in that fraction of second his car dashes to something or someone and because of these fucking air bags he was not able to see what it was. So somehow he manages to push those air bags aside and open the car door to survey the damage he has done.

But apparently "the damage" was looking for something under Zayn's (Louis's) car. All Zayn could see was butt cheeks covered by a Ralph and Lauren's black boxer which was on full display and then a white washed blue jeans hung low. After a few moment "the damage" (a boy, probably) pushes himself out from under the car and looks at Zayn with a frown...so yeah, that is a boy, a boy who apparently looks like a hybrid of a human being and a Bichon frise, with his all messy curly hairs and brown puppy eyes, the eyes that was now looking down at the broken mobile phone in his hand. The boy must have felt Zayn's scrutinizing gaze on him so he immediately looks up at Zayn.

 

"What?" the boy interrogates.

 

Zayn is clueless of what to say, so he stands there dumbfounded looking at the boy, who was again scanning his broken phone and this time when the boy looks up, his eyes are filled with tears.

Zayn now felt remorseful witnessing the sight in front of him, so he immediately opens his mouth to apologize "Sorr...."

 

But then the boy starts mumbling, "had just bought this phone couple of months back, from the money I had saved from working part time and now I'll have to invest more money on this, to get it fixed"

 

Zayn thinks that it’s a clue, and that he should give this boy some sort of compensation. Therefore he fetches some money from his jeans pocket and when he is just about to hand it over to the boy.

 

The boy looks astounded, "What now? You are gonna give me money." And apparently the boy is least interested to hear what Zayn has to say, and he carries on with his dramatics by shaking his head a lot more than necessary and waving his hand all vigorously, as if that will help Zayn to realize how displeased he is because of Zayn's behavior. "No sir, thank you I'll manage this on my own. It’s just that, because of some rich" the boy points at the Audi logo of the car "ostentatious" pointing at the money Zayn is holding "and weird people" pointing at the aviator Zayn's wearing "who are dumb enough to wear an aviator at night, we ordinary people even after getting an all clear signal to cross the road, can't do that without meeting with an accident"

 

And with that the mixed hybrid of human and dog ends his small speech or declaration of hatred towards people like Zayn.

For some reason Zayn couldn't help but smile at that.

 

"Great! so now you are gonna stand here and smile like a maniac..." the boy gestures a thumbs up and continues "carry on, but then I can't entertain you any further because unlike you, some people have got work to do." the owner of those big brown bambi eyes concludes and after that crosses the road.

 

When the boy is at other side of the empty road, Zayn finally calls "Hey, Listen"

 

The boy halts and turns to look at Zayn "What now?" he shrugs.

 

Zayn, himself is clueless of why he calls the boy at the first place, but he reason it, that maybe he wanted to see the boy’s face once before it disappears forever, "Nah, nothing...." they look at each other for a moment. "Bye" he waves.

 

If the boy was annoyed before, his facial expression now looks nothing short of murderous "Weirdo" he shouts back and walks away.

 

Zayn just stands there looking at the walking figure of the boy until it disappears in the dark, then climbs back in the driver's seat and starts the engine again.

 

*

Zayn couldn't find a single decent bar in his mission to find tranquility and it was already around 12:45, but still he was looking out of the car window in order to find one. And then suddenly, he finds this bar with a huge hoarding that says " _Boozer's Paradise_ ". But looking at how the bar and its hoarding was decorated with cheap lighting and stuffs like that, he very soon realizes that the bar was way out the realm of his standard. But since he has no other choice, he parks his car and makes his way inside the bar.

 

The bar as he expected, was nowhere matching his standards. In fact, it was even worse than he was expecting it to be. The lights and the atmosphere inside was very dark, the ambience was not very overwhelming, the bar was filled with all sorts of indecent people who were legitimately inebriated, and creating all kind of hooliganism. Fortunately, Zayn finds a quiet place in the front corner, and he makes his way towards that seat after ordering a glass of whiskey for himself.

 

Zayn was only halfway through his glass of whiskey when the stage right in front of him is all of a sudden illuminated, and he hears someone testing their mic. Minutes later, the starting tune of his song " _More than this_ " is being played by a band that consists of a blonde boy stringing a guitar, a brunette behind those drum set and a curly haired lad wearing bandana behind a keyboard.

That’s all Zayn requires to get pissed off. All that, what Zayn was trying to escape was finding its way on its own, back to him. It was strangling Zayn metaphorically and making him suffocate more than anything. So therefore, he gets up from his seat, turns around and is about to dart out of the bar, but then he hears

**_"I'm broken, do you hear me....."_ **

 

He had sung this song more times than he might have inhaled and exhaled air. But still this feels different, so different that it makes his knees weak. This voice was somehow speaking to his soul. And a smile made its way to his face.

He turns around and strides back to the seat he had left. This time when he looks back up to the stage, the figure standing in the centre stage, holding the mic stand was none other than the owner of a broken mobile (all thanks to Zayn). Singing with his eyes closed and a sad expression.

The king of dramatics, who has apparently also got an incredible voice, was so much engrossed in what he was doing, that even when some boozers where throwing money at him or while some others were booing him, he wasn't distracted a bit.

A moment later when the puppy human opens his eyes and looks at all the money thrown at him and the booing that was happening he looks down and then looks at the boy playing keyboard, who in return smiles at him sympathetically and makes a hand gesture asking him to continue. The boy continues singing as he is cheered by everyone in his band. Singing and smiling so hard that it makes his eyes crinkle at the side, he reaches to the end chorus of the song when his gaze meets Zayn’s, and all of a sudden the curve of his lips goes upside down and he quickly sings the last line and scurries backstage, he is then soon followed by his band members. The lights of the stage slowly starts dimming and then the bar goes all dark, back again.

 

*

Zayn bribes one of the waiter of the bar to allow him to go to the backstage. And now when he is here, standing near the entrance of the musician's room, backstage. He peeps in and sees each member of the band placing their musical instrument respectively in the place that might have been allotted to them, to keep those instruments. Except for the one, the one who is now sprawled across the couch in that room, examining his mobile and snivelling.

Zayn stands there near the entrance of the room and tries to hear their conversation. Of course that is morally wrong but that's not gonna stop Zayn anyways.

 

"Stop whining for Christ's sake, I'll fix your damn mobile, but stop whining this instant, or else I, myself will throw that trash which you call your phone out of this fucking window."

 

"It’s not trash, Harry" the bambi eyed human being replies childishly.

 

"Oh, Of course, it is Payno. Infact I would personally like to thank that god sent angel who broke that damn thing, I was gonna do that myself" the blondie scoffs with a smirk.

 

Zayn chuckles to that silently.

 

"That’s not very nice, Niall. You are being rude." Payno mutters while getting up to sit, and making place for Harry to sit beside him.

 

"Wow! Am I?" Niall beams "that’s exactly, what my intention was"

 

"Okay, then carry on with it" Payno winces, examining his elbow.

 

"Is that blood. Are u bleeding now?"

 

"Yep, Josh apparently I am. Thanks for noticing, only you are my true friend. Niall and Harry are very mean and I hate them." Payno continues, acting childishly.

 

Harry brings a first aid box from somewhere and grabs Payno's hand to clean it. And when Payno is about to swat Harry's hand.

 

Both Harry and Niall scold in unison, "Stop acting like a petulant kid, Liam" and Liam instantly goes quiet and looks down in despair.

 

"Liam" Zayn repeats in an undertone, not wanting anyone to hear except himself, but then, apparently he was wrong, Liam jerks and looks up to where Zayn was standing, near the door.

 

Zayn on the other hand startles, because he had murmured that in real hushed tone, the proof was that, no one other than Liam heard him.

But the others soon follow Liam's gaze and look at him.

 

 

"Who are you? What are you doing here? Who let you in?" Niall starts interrogating Zayn as he walks towards the door to completely open it.

 

" _Whoa,_ that’s a lot of questions at once Niall, calm down."

 

Niall looks at Zayn in bewilderment and blinks twice before asking "What, how do you know my name now?"

 

"Does it sound creepy, if I say, I was standing here and eavesdropping on your conversation?" Zayn asks sheepishly.

 

"Oh yeah, it does" Liam snarls, four pairs of eyes on Liam now, but still he continues ignoring the glares, "it does sound creepy. This is an invasion to our personal space without permission. Go now, get out, I'll call the security otherwise" and with that he stands up, grabs his broken mobile from the couch and carefully pockets it in his jeans.

 

"We ain't got no security, Liam" Harry says in a hushed tone.

 

To which, Zayn chortles.

 

And now that, might have annoyed Liam, because he starts fidgeting the hem of his shirt, which obviously showcases how low on confidence and nervous he was. But he soon collects himself back, glares back at Harry and then narrows his eyes while looking at Zayn."Well, that's beside the point, listen you weirdo, you need to leave this room right now. Because no matter how much you insist, I am not taking your money to fix my phone"

 

Zayn gets all confused and blurts out "What?"

But then, soon he realizes what Liam meant, and he facepalms himself with his aviators on and shakes his head at the thought of how naive this fully grown boy in front of him was.

"No, no, no that's not the reason, why I am here for" he states, sliding his hands down from his face, now he can see there are three more figures standing there confused, along with Liam.

 

"Wait," Niall points at Liam "Would you care to explain, what’s going on?"

 

"And why would he wanna give you money to fix that trash?” Harry asks.

 

"It's not trash" Liam defends.

 

Zayn couldn't help but laugh at that. "Are you serious right now, Liam? From all that they have asked, you just picked only the _trash part_?" he asks mockingly

"Okay, Shall I do the talking then, and explain everything from A to Z, and also tell you the reason why am I here" Zayn asks expectantly.

 

"Yeah sure"

 

"That would be great"

 

"Carry on then"

 

After a couple of seconds, there comes a sound of protest. Which if Zayn has to be honest, he wasn't surprised a bit, he was kinda expecting it.

 

"Wait no, these are my friends. I'll tell them, You sir, (pointing at Zayn) kindly leave"

 

"SHUT UP, LIAM" this time all four of them say in unison.

 

"So it’s because of me Liam here, is now the owner of a broken phone, which I am very sorry about" Zayn apologizes.

"And no I'll not give you any compensation, if you don't want me to" he interjects Liam, who was about to say something.

 

"Liam you are being an idiot here, but then there's nothing new." Niall sneers at Liam.

 

"But mister, would you care to explain, why are you here?" Harry demands.

 

"Yeah I would, that's what I was gonna do, before Niall here interrupted me."

 

And now both Niall and Liam were sharing the exact same facial expression.

 

"Can we sit there on the couch and talk? My legs are paining and apparently your elbow as well" Zayn says pointing at Liam’s elbow.

 

Liam and Niall now both shrug in unison before Liam adds "Why would you care?"

 

"And no you are not allowed to sit on our couch" Niall says gritting his teeth.

 

That’s all Liam needs to get all delighted and he high fives Niall cheerfully.

 

"Shut up Liam, and behave yourself, this is not how you are always. What has gotten to you today?” Harry scolds Liam, while already gesturing Zayn towards the couch.

 

Zayn would like to think that he has already picked his favorite.

 

Liam doesn’t bother to reply, instead starts searching for something.

 

Zayn makes his way towards the couch while he hears Josh whisper "that was not very nice of you babe, you should apologize" to Niall, in response to which Niall merely nods.

 

"I was at the bar today, and I saw you lot perform. And apparently I am very impressed, especially by that guy" he points towards Liam, who has his back towards Zayn "the one drinking water."

 

Liam instantly turns around, looks taken aback and spits out water all over Zayn, and starts coughing violently.

 

"Liam!" Niall calls and Josh hurries towards Liam to pat his back.

 

"Oh my god, Liam. You are so dumb. Wait mister, I'll get you a towel" Harry informs, fetching for a towel.

 

"I am so sorry, extremely sorry, I am terrible human being and I know it, but I swear, it wasn't revenge. I am sorry." Liam manages to say, looking genuinely rueful.

 

"Yeah, I know that. I know, you weren't taking a revenge, Calm down." Zayn tries to pacify Liam while taking the towel Harry was handing him.

 

Then he takes off his aviator and beanie to wipe the water off his face.

After he was done, he looks up to find four figures standing in front of him, all dumbfounded.

None of them looking willing enough to utter a single word. And among them there was this one figure, who was going through so much of emotions at once, that he was unable to stand so he sat down holding his knees close to his chest and starts blurting out "I am sorry" like a mantra.

                                              

Zayn immediately gets up and holds out his hand for Liam "C'mon now, Liam get up, there's no need to apologize"

 

Liam takes his hand and stands up, leaves Zayn's hand instantly once he is back on his feet, nods once and then immediately goes to hold Harry's hand.

 

Zayn's heart might have skipped a beat when Liam’s hand was on his, and he is immediately longing for that touch as soon as Liam leaves his hand. But then he silently shoves his hands in his pocket and looks at Niall, who is using all his might to frame some sort of sensible question to ask Zayn.

 

"Zayn, You are Zayn Goddamn Malik. We were singing your bloody song in front of you and you are impressed?" Niall asks hesitantly.

 

"Nope, "Goddamn" isn't my middle name and that song of mine wasn't "bloody" at all" Zayn points out mockingly. "But jokes aside, yeah I am Zayn Malik who is apparently very impressed by you lot and by Liam especially"

 

"Sorry"

 

"Will you ever stop apologizing Liam, Sorry to say but you are being annoying now." Zayn looks at Harry and asks "is he always like this?"

 

"Nope" Liam looks at Harry thankfully and then Harry immediately adds "he is even worse" and the look Liam now gives Harry resembles murderous.

 

"The reason why I am here is because..." Zayn looks at Liam and continues "Liam, my god, your voice is incredible. You sang that song in the way, it should have originally been sung, your voice is amazing and this voice deserves a much better platform. You don't deserve to sing to those ridiculous people who boo at you and who do not recognize what kind of precious gift you are. I promise to give you that platform, come with me to London and give me a chance to show you what you deserve and where you belong to. Come with me" Zayn pleads and waits for Liam to reply.

 

"I....I am not that kind of boy, you know, I mean....I mean, the...the one, rich people take home." Liam stutters

 

All Zayn does is, laughs out loud and finally once he finds control over himself he says "No Liam, I don’t want to do things with you, I swear.And I don't speak to such kind of boys in this way” he smirks and goes silent for a moment before he continues "you are really talented and all I want is to see you reach the pinnacle of success, which believe me Liam, you deserve every ounce of it."

 

"But, no I can't leave my friends behind. That’s not happening." He says shaking his head.

 

"Of course that's happening Liam, you are going" Harry cheers, grabbing Liam in a bear hug.

 

"This was always your dream, wasn't it?" Josh asks

 

"And you aren't leaving this opportunity at any cost. You are going. Do you hear me?" Niall orders sliding his arms around Liam and hugging him.

 

"See, what you have done Mr. Malik, you have made all my friends act all melodramatic over this issue. So that’s why, I have made my final decision and that is, I am not gonna go with you, without them" Liam says pointing at his friends.

 

"Liam, my god, when did you become so stubborn" Harry cries.

 

"Exactly after a minute I befriended you Styles, now shut up and pack up, let’s go home. I feel so exhausted, that I can sleep for three years straight."

Liam then looks at Niall "What? Now even you want an explanation? Wait let me think" he says tapping his index finger to his forehead,"if I go there would be no one to save your ass from Bobby Horan when you have a night out at Josh's." Liam sneers at Niall with a wink.

With that Niall and Josh both shrug defeatedly.

 

“And finally, Mr Malik are you a bank?” Liam suddenly swerves the topic of discussion

 

“No” Zayn admits in bewilderment.

 

“Because you need to leave us “ _a loan”_ ” Liam air quotes and says

For which he is, of course, subjected to four unimpressed glare from all four direction.

 

Liam simply shrugs.

 

"God Leeyum, you call your friends melodramatic, when you are the epitome of dramatics I have ever come across besides Louis, now that’s a different story for some other day. But seriously Liam you are terrible. Possibly the dumbest person I have ever met. It’s like what, 4 hours, since I have known you and trust me, I have already had enough" Zayn utters without the tone of harshness in it, on the contrary he says it with genuine fondness.

"C'mon now, you lot" he gestures to Harry, Niall and Josh "you are all coming with us" he finishes pointing at Liam and himself.

 

"But" Niall starts

 

"Oh no, what now?"Zayn interrupts

 

"The manager, Zayn, he won’t give us our paycheck, if we leave the job in the middle of the month." Niall finishes

 

"And if we don't get this month's salary, we will not have enough money to travel with you to London" Harry adds

 

"Oh that, that’s absolutely not a problem. I mean, the money problem,” Zayn points at himself “leave it on me. I'll take care of that. Okay?”

“And before our dear Liam here, interrupts and continues being annoying" he adds looking at Liam who had already opened his mouth to talk, but closes it as soon as Zayn looks at him.

"Keep the account of the amount of money I lend you. You take it as _a loan_ now” he mocks at Liam and continues “and after you all make some money .Give my money back to me with interest. Deal?”

 

"Yep, deal" Liam smiles and shows a thumbs up.

 

And at that very moment everything stops for Zayn. That’s it, he had never seen something so beautiful in his entire life.

 

"Zayn" Liam's voice brings him back to the actual world. "What now? What’s next? How is this gonna work out?"

 

"Oh, about that. Um we will leave tomorrow morning. Now go home, inform your loved ones and get some rest." Then Zayn points at Liam's jeans pocket where he has kept his mobile "Since your mobile is broken now . I'll better take, one of your friend's number so that I can contact him and get your address tomorrow morning. Yeah?"

 

"Yeah that would be fine" Harry says "Here this is my number" he hands over a piece paper with his contact number scribbled on it, to Zayn.

 

"Meet you tomorrow morning, Bye" Josh waves at Zayn and walks out of the door holding Niall’s hand.

 

"Bye Zayn, meet you tomorrow" Niall shouts back. "I am so excited, babe" Zayn hears Niall telling Josh.

 

"Call me in the morning, I'll tell you the exact address, yeah? Byee"

 

Zayn chuckles and replies "Yeah Harry, please do that. I am so not keen on driving to a wrong address so early in the morning. Bye"

Liam soon follows Harry out of the door.

 

But then, Zayn calls "Liam"

 

Liam turns around "yeah?"

 

"Nah, nothing. Go get some sleep see you in the morning. Bye."

 

Liam smiles and waves at him "Night".

 

Zayn stands there in the middle of an unknown room thinking about what he has done. What strange decision he had made without talking to Louis or anyone from the management. And even after perceiving how risky all this was. He wasn't scared, not even a bit if you ask him.

And in the middle of all such thoughts, it dawns him that somehow he is experiencing some sort of serenity he was looking for, which he otherwise wouldn't have experienced until he had consumed more than half a bottle of Jack and Daniel's.

And he would like to owe this alcohol-less calmness to the owner of those big brown puppy eyes.

 

*

“Thank god you are alive Zayn” Louis greets Zayn, opening the door of their hotel room. ”And why the fuck are you smiling ear to ear?” Louis looks puzzled. ”Wait are you wasted? Didn’t I remind you about your liver goddamit.”

 

“Thank you Lou, thank you for letting me go out today” he says pulling Louis next to him, to where he is sprawled out in that huge double bed. “I owe you big time”

 

“And how exactly are you gonna do that, owe me?” Louis asks adjusting himself.

 

“That I’ll let you know tomorrow. Love you so much, Lou” Zayn yawns “G’night”

 

“Yeah, whatever. Surprise me” Louis snorts “Night”

 

 

*

 

“Rise and shine, Lou. Wake up”

 

“Rise my ass, Zayn. Shut up”

 

“Fine then, I am leaving and I am taking my car, had asked Paul to drive your car back to London, but don’t worry, I’ll call and tell him not to.” Zayn informs, buttoning up his sweater “By the way, I had also packed your stuffs. Thank me later when we meet back in London. Bye, love you” Zayn adds while walking towards the door and puts up a fake show of opening and closing back the door. And because Louis is obvious as fuck, he comes stumbling near the door with an obvious frown in his face and as soon as he realizes that he is been pranked, to which Zayn gives all the credit to himself. Zayn is rewarded by a smack to his head.

“Go get dressed, we are leaving” Zayn winces rubbing the spot on his head where Louis hit him.

 

“You cruel, heinous human being, would you even care to tell me, where are we going” Louis states lazily, already getting dressed up.

 

“Patience sleepyhead” Zayn beams “I’ll tell you once we get in the car”

 

 

*

“What are you, a broken radio? Why the hell are you drawling? It’s because of you we are going round and round around this fucking city. Tell me the exact address goddamit” Louis yells, phone pressed to his ears.

“Now from here, we should turn right, right? Louis groans “I mean right, right? - fucking hell, you are irritating. See you in couple of minutes”

“Who the hell was he?” Louis asks tucking his phone in his pocket “and we need to turn right from here” he directs.

 

“Harry, I guess” Zayn grins “And Congrats Lou, you are now both mine and their manager.”

 

“Dafuq, Am I?”

 

“Manager”

 

“Don’t you think, you owe me an explanation Zee? Please do that, before my head bursts open”

 

“So yesterday night I was at this bar, and I heard this band perform. They are incredible, believe me. So I have taken it on myself, to give them a chance to showcase their talent. And I know you are gonna help me with this Lou. Thank you”

 

“No, I am not”

 

“Yes, you are”

 

“I am 100% certain that you are 0% sure of what you are doing Zee. Grow up, you have a sinking career to focus on Zee...”

 

“Here he is” Zayn says abruptly stopping the car to pick Harry

 

“Good morning, Zayn”

 

“Hey Harry” Zayn waves “Get in”

 

And Harry does, sits exactly behind driver’s seat and adds “And who’s this?”

 

“The one who tolerated you, a few minutes back” Louis informs, turning back to look at Harry.

 

“Wow, you have got great eyes” To which Louis looks at him and blinks in confusion “and great voice”

 

Zayn chuckles looking at Louis startled expression “Where next Harry?” Zayn asks.

 

“To Josh’s, go straight then turn right” Harry directs and a moment later “there they are” he chirps.

 

Both Niall and Josh greet everyone in the car gets seated behind Harry at the backseat of Zayn’s SUV.

 

“Who are you?” Louis points at Niall.

 

“They say, you are what you eat.” Niall takes a bite of his burger “So therefore, I am a Big Mac” he somehow manages to say.

 

No one laughs, except Josh. “That was a good one, babe” he pecks Niall’s cheek.

“Oh,” Josh looks at the three pairs of eyes glaring at them “He is Niall and I am Josh. Nice to meet you”

 

“Wish I could say the same” Louis replies.

 

“Where next?” Zayn asks ignoring Louis’s remark.

 

“Just turn left from here” Josh says with a frown.

 

There is an awkward silence in the car until they reach Liam’s.

Zayn stomach twists looking at Liam standing there in the corner, wearing a black hoodie, carrying a backpack and waving so enthusiastically like Zayn would not notice him and pass by him, if he doesn’t.

 

“Good morning, everyone” Liam squeals standing just near Louis’s window.

 

“Get in” Zayn grins gesturing him to climb in the car and sits beside Harry.

Once, Liam is seated. He starts the engine of his car again.

“You look tired, didn’t you have a good night sleep?” he asks Liam, ignoring the glare Louis is giving him.

 

“Some people normally look like they haven’t slept in weeks, I am one of them” Liam replies offhandedly.

 

“No, you aren’t one of them, in fact you always look very bright in the morning unlike today.” Niall states

 

“That’s because” Harry points at Liam “he didn’t sleep the whole night, kept calling me to tell how excited he is and because of which how he wasn’t able to think straight.”

 

“Sorry”

 

“You better be” Harry says

 

“Which reminds me about your mobile, did you fix it?” Zayn asks

 

“Yes, I did” Liam beams

 

Then there is silence for an hour or so except for the quiet mumbling between Niall and Josh.

 

Harry leans forward in his seat and pops his head between Zayn’s and Louis’s seat. “What’s his name?” he asks Zayn pointing at Louis.

 

“Louis. Um, Louis Tomlinson”

 

“Louis?” Harry jerks Louis awake.

 

“What?"Louis asks rubbing his eyes.

 

“Do you wanna build a snowman?” Harry wiggles his eyebrows “you know, it doesn’t have to be a snowman” Harry shrugs and gets back to his seat, looking defeated because of the glare Louis is sending his way.

 

“Are you fucking serious right now? Dafuq was that for? Louis asks turning to face Harry.

 

“I think you should just “ _Let it go_ ”, Mr. Tomlinson” Liam air quotes and tries to pacify Louis.

 

But that try of Liam goes futile because Louis grits his teeth and points a finger at Harry “You Harry, you inspire my inner serial killer. Christ, I have never met anyone so annoying in my entire life. I hate you, I hate you for jerking me awake from my slumber. You are cruel”

 

“Well now that hurts” Harry places a hand on his chest and fakes a chest pain.

“But tell me, do you like water?” he swerves the topic.

 

Louis looks dumbfounded, but he blurts out “Yes”

 

“Well, then you already like 72% of me. No worries”

 

Louis shakes his head, sits back straight and facepalms himself

 

“Is the name of your band _We think our one liner’s are funny, when it is actually not?”_ Zayn mocks and he sees all four of them chuckle and shake their head to disagree, through his rear-view mirror.

 

And thus couple of hours passes and they reach London.

 

“Park the car Mr. Malik. Drop us off here” Liam declares

Zayn parks the car in front of not so lavish but a decent looking building.

 

“Is this that building?”

 

“Yes it is, Josh. It’s the exact place where Liam and I stayed last summer” Harry states

 

“Oh, nice. Look” Niall points at the huge KFC hoarding “Josh, there is KFC right across the street. Clever man that, Uncle John.”

 

“Whose uncle John? And aren’t this lot supposed to stay with you Zayn. I mean, with us since we share” Louis asks Zayn

 

Zayn first shakes his head in confusion and then nods.

 

“Uncle John is my dad’s friend. He has given me his flat key so that we can stay in there, until we are here in London.”

 

“Oh, okay then” Zayn agrees.

 

“And besides you have my number, right? Call me if there is any progress. I mean... I actually don’t know what I mean but yeah, call us and inform what next from here on, or something like that, yeah?” Harry struggles while already getting out of the car.

 

“Yeah, yeah please don’t worry about it, I’ll call” Zayn informs “Besides, do you need any help with your bags and adjustments up in the flat.”

 

“No thank you, we’ll manage, Bye” Niall says as he follows Josh inside the building.

 

“Bye Louis” Harry waves at Louis and adds, “and please try and be a bit less arrogant, my mom says being arrogant isn’t good for health.” And with that Harry follows Niall.

 

“Whatever” Louis shouts back.

 

“Harry is right though” Liam adds

 

“If in case you didn’t hear what I said, let me have this pleasure to repeat myself, Whateverrrr” Louis sneers

 

Liam just rubs his nose at that. ”Okay then sorry, bye anyways” he waves at Louis and then at Zayn “Bye Mr. Malik”

 

Zayn waves and waits there, watches Liam turn back and about to follow Harry when he calls “Liam”

 

Liam looks back “Yeah?”

 

“Nah, nothing. See you soon bye”

 

Liam smiles and waves, then disappears inside the building.

 

“What?” Zayn asks Louis, who is glaring at him and starts the car engine again.

 

“You know what you are up to, right? How risky all this is? How badly this is gonna effect your career?”

 

“No, I don’t. A great voice is a great voice Lou, and that needs recognition. The business part of it...well, that you know I’ll never understand.”

 

“I know that, you genius. And therefore I worry about you the most. It’s like your brain is with me, because of which I feel that I am more responsible for you than you for yourself.”

 

“Don’t worry about me.”

 

“I should be worried goddammit, you yourself, have brought a competition for you in the market. This is so not gonna help your already sinking career. Your concerts are getting cancelled, the press has covered you - while you have thrown tantrums in your intoxicated state, your public image is getting destroyed every passing day, your popularity is decreasing, you are under so much debt. We need to do something about it Zayn. And the fuck because of your drinking habits, now your health is also deteriorating.” Louis finally breathes 

“Which reminds me that I need to collect your reports from the hospital. Please be a doll and drop me off to the hospital.” Louis begs

 

“Sure. I am a man with many flaws, ah? Zayn asks stopping the car near the hospital.

 

“No you are not, you have just lost direction. A little right guidance from The great Tommo the Tomlinson and everything will be fine.” Louis states and pats his back “now, wait here. I’ll be back”

 

Once Louis is out of the car, Zayn immediately locks the door of the car, takes out the hip flask from his pocket, takes a sip from it and shouts through the window “Rent a cab back home Tommo, see you there” with that he presses the gas pedal and ignores Louis’s warning that sounds something like “ _Zayn, for fucksake don’t do that, please don’t drink and drive”_

But if you ask Zayn, he needed this, needed it for his survival. For the man who drinks more than he breathes. 12 fucking hours without getting intoxicated is a fuck lot of time. And that’s since he first heard Liam sing. But then Louis’s reminder of how much fucked up his life was, his craving for alcohol increased ten-folds.

A combination of both alcohol and speed always helped him forget things and instances that made him look weak and miserable.

So he thought that this combination would serve its purpose this time as well. But his fate had some other plans. And he realized that, when his car dashed to a huge object and everything in front of him went black.

 

*

_“No one should know about this accident, not the press, not his family, no - anyone. Switch of his phone. - Oh brilliant, it’s broken. But still remove the SIM and destroy it. If anyone asks where’s he? tell them he is gone to New York. Am I very clear?”_

 *

When Zayn wakes up, he feels like his whole body aching from the tip of  his hair to the nails of his toe. He feels a strange emptiness in his stomach as if he hasn’t eaten for ages. His eyes takes longer than usual to accustomize to the sunlight. And then when he properly opens his eyes, he sees Louis sitting there, right next to him - holding his hand. They are in a room with white walls, white bedsheets and white everything. Which means, _Wait,_ this isn’t his room, it looks more like a hospital room. _Brilliant,_ now that makes sense, and explains all the intravenous injection and other stuffs attached to his body.

 

“Hey champ, how do you feel?”

 

“Probably like somebody has set my body on fire, Lou”

 

“Wonderful, you deserve every ounce of it” Louis mocks

 

“It’s too early in the morning, chuck it Lou. I am so not interested to deal with your mockery” he winces

 

“I thought you missed me and my sarcasm for two months”

 

“Oh, I didn’t” he says casually. But then “wait, what?”

 

Louis doesn’t reply but simply nods

 

“Two months. I am fucking lying here for two months now.” He says in bewilderment

 

“The only thing that makes me happy about this whole situation is that, you didn’t drink for two months. But other than that, I’m neutral, not at all sad for you bastard”

 

“Not funny, Lou”

 

“Great, because it wasn’t a joke”

 

“Whatever” after a moment of silence he asks “Did they call?”

 

Louis’s expression changes instantly and he looks down “No, they didn’t”

 

“Why didn’t they?” Zayn wonders

 

“They fucking didn’t. Stop interrogating. I have few paperworks to do, we will be leaving as soon as the doctor allows.”

 

Louis leaves the room, making Zayn’s head ache more than before.

 

 

*

 

“I’ll probably use the stairs and make few arrangements for your homecoming, you wait here for the elevator” Louis say already running towards the stairs

 

“Excuse me, Sir” the watchman of his building approaches.

 

“Yeah?” Zayn replies

 

“How was your trip to New York, Sir?”

 

“Um good, I guess.” He doesn’t clarifies “Why?” he asks instead.

 

“Nothing major, Sir. Just that, there was this guy who would come here always exactly at 10 every morning for the past two months and ask for you. And I had informed that boy - that you are in New York, like how Louis Sir had asked me to. But he still kept coming, he had come here today morning as well. Now if that boy comes here tomorrow, should I tell him that you are back or ask him to go away?”

 

“Um, I’ll let you know” Zayn informs the watchman as he gets in the elevator.

 

 

*

 

“ _Wohooo_ welcome back Zayn” Louis greets “welcome back from your two months stay in hospital”

 

“New York” Zayn states, pointedly looking at Louis.

 

“What?” Louis perplexes

 

“Wasn’t I in New York for the past couple of months?”

 

“Umm yes…….. No. Fuck, I don’t know what to say.”

 

“Why Lou?” Zayn jerks Louis

 

“Because I am your manager. Does that help?” Louis raises his eyebrow “Besides, I don’t think a front page cover story with a title - _Zayn Malik met with an accident because he was intoxicated while driving_ would help your cause much.”

 

“You very well know that I am not talking about that Louis, so please don’t change the topic”

 

“I am not changing the topic. And I don’t know, what are you talking about”

 

“Oh yes you know, Why did you lie to me? Why did you make our watchman lie to Liam?”

 

“How do you know it was Liam, it can be a random fan?”

 

“I have no clue how, but something makes me think that it is Liam.” Zayn runs his finger through his hair “But Louis, why would you lie to them?”

 

“Because I thought that’s how we are gonna get rid of them”

 

“Oh god Lou, why don’t you understand, they were not the one who came dangling behind me, I was the one who brought them here. Stop speaking ill of them or look down upon them, just because they are entrants”

 

“I am not looking down upon them, I am just worried about you and your career”

 

“Okay how about this, let’s make a deal” Zayn says

 

“What deal?”

 

“That if you help me out with them, and help me showcase their talent, I promise you that I’ll oblige to whatever you say and concentrate on my career more than I ever did.”

 

“Sounds great to me”

 

“Deal then” Zayn throws his car keys to Louis “You are driving me to their place” he finishes, while grabbing Louis in a bear hug.

 

 

*

 

“You knock” says Louis

 

So Zayn does, and they are greeted by an extremely surprised looking Josh.

 

“Liam, we made macaroni for you. At least have a spoonful before Niall finis…..” Harry looks at them startled

 

“Oh, it’s not Liam” Niall adds befuddled, and stands beside Josh

 

“Why are you here?” Harry asks walking towards the door. Now three of them standing together and trying to block the entrance, maybe because they think Zayn and Louis are gonna barge into their flat if they do otherwise.

 

“Sorry” Zayn apologizes instead of answering

 

“You are sorry for exactly what, Zayn?” Harry asks

 

“Somebody’s mom here, may or may not have told them that being arrogant is unhealthy” Louis wiggles his eyebrows at Harry.

 

“Well” Harry looks at Louis and then turns to look at Niall “I reckon, we should let them in Niall. So that we can sit and talk. I promise, I won’t offer them Macaroni.”

 

“In that case, it’s a _YES_ from me” Niall says, ignoring Louis’s mocking remark ‘ _Oh how I wish, I could atleast taste them.’_

 

*

“I am Sorry” Zayn starts once they all get seated “some work came up, so I had to go to New York. But then there, I met with an accident” he points at the bandage on his right forearm “and I got stuck up. My mobile and everything got destroyed.”

 

“Why wasn’t there anything in the newspaper then?” Liam’s voice surprises everyone “You are a star, whatever you do comes in the newspaper. Why wasn’t there anything about your accident?” Liam asks walking directly towards the kitchen as soon as he enters the house and return backs with a bottle of water in his hand.

 

“Louis, wasn’t there anything about my accident in the newspapers?” Zayn puts up a fake show for Liam. Kudos to Louis because he gets what Zayn is trying to do, and he shakes his head sadly in response.

“Well then that sadly means, I am not that popular anymore” Zayn shrugs eyeing Liam who is spilling more water on his shirt then he is actually drinking.

 

“But then there were so many journalists and fans outside your building today” Liam walks towards the couch opposite to him and sits beside Harry.

 

“You were near my building, today?” Zayn asks instead of reasoning.

 

“I had to make a pizza delivery in your locality, so I was just passing by” Liam runs his fingers through his curls.

 

“You are hurt”

 

“What?”

 

“Your elbow, It’s bleeding” Zayn informs

 

Everyone in the room now have their eyes on Liam. “What happened, Li?” Harry looks the most concerned while Niall disappears into one of the room.

 

“Ah, that’s nothing, I just fell down”

 

“Fell down, Where?” Zayn asks

 

“Some of your fans got really excited looking at your car approaching your building gate, so they shove me in their attempt to get to the front”

 

“He and his bloody fans” Niall appears with band aid in his hand and he sticks it to Liam’s elbow.

 

“Babe, cool down” Josh holds Niall by his waist.

 

“So it’s been two months now. Why didn’t you’ll go back home?” Louis breaks the silence, simultaneously ignoring the glare Zayn was sending his way.

 

“That’s none of your fucking business. Besides working here as a pizza boy seems much better than singing at a bar.” Harry says gritting his teeth.

 

“OH, okay” Louis says raising both his hand.

There is an awkward silence after that, but then Louis continues “Meet us tomorrow at 10 in the morning, at this address” he places the piece of paper that has the address scribbled on it, on the coffee table in front of them. “We’ll make all the required arrangements for your meeting with Simon.”

 

“How can you expect us to trust you, this time again?”

 

“You have got no other choice Harry. Zayn C’mon lets go” Louis pats Zayn’s thighs and gets up.

 

Zayn gets up to follow Louis, who has already gone out of the door. Harry, Niall and Josh ran off to the kitchen. But Liam, he stood there. Something in that moment clicked Zayn and he realized that someday in his life he may forget his own face or how he looks like, in the mirror but he would never be able to forget the face he is looking at right now. And that thought makes his stomach twist, so he immediately looks away from Liam and walks towards the door. Liam follows him to close the door behind Zayn, but when Liam is about to do so – Zayn holds his hand out at the door and stops him “Liam”

 

“Yeah?” Liam asks tilting his head

 

Zayn can’t help but smile and shake his head looking at how innocent Liam looks “Nah, nothing….. See you tomorrow. Bye” he waves

 

“Bye” Liam waves and closes the door.

 

*

 

“SIMON”

 

“We need a moment to talk to you” Louis says trying to regain his breath and also supporting Zayn who is leaning on him.

 

“Well, Hello to both of you then. You can always meet me in my office, there is no need to run and almost trip in the corridor”

 

“Well this was kind of urgent” Louis informs

 

“Okay then, What is it?”

 

“You need to audition someone”

 

“There is no need of that Zayn. Just because you took a two month break, doesn’t mean you need to prove yourself again. You and your voice are both incredible and I don’t doubt it a bit” Simon says genuinely.

 

“Not mine”

 

“Not yours?”

 

“No. Actually there is this boy, I mean there is this band. They are superb. I want you to give them a chance” Zayn pleads

 

“Not today Zayn. I am a bit busy” Simon informs

 

“No, you are not” Louis says

 

“Yes, I am Louis. It’s my schedule, I know it better”

 

“Here they are.” Louis shouts ignoring Simon

 

“Simon, please do this for me. I promise you, this will be the last thing I’ll ask from you” Zayn blurts out.

Since Liam and his friends are approaching towards them, he sends Louis to distract them a bit, until Simon agrees.

 

“But Zayn, an audition in such short notice? You know it doesn’t work like this. Besides you know how hard it is to impress me. This is not a joke Zayn” Simon clarifies

 

“I very well know how hard it is to impress you. I know that nobody takes me very seriously because of my attitude towards my career. But Simon, both you and I know this very well that I would never joke about music, it would be like me making fun of my soul.” Zayn explains

 

“I dunno why I am doing this, but maybe it’s because you are a bastard who is very good with words. But anyways, ask them to get ready and meet me in the studio upstairs” Simon says, for which he is also rewarded by a hug from Zayn.

 

 

*

Louis has taken Harry, Niall and Josh into the musician’s room to make prior arrangements with their instruments and stuffs. And Liam is sitting alone in a room nervously fidgeting the hem of his shirt behaving as if someone has pointed a gun to his head and asked him to give one of his arm. Zayn watches Liam through the glass door before knocking it. Liam comes near the door but doesn’t open it and shakes his head instead, innocently.

 

“Please Liam, let me in” Zayn begs and places his palm exactly where Liam has pressed his palm on the other side of the door. Liam looks at their hand for a moment then slowly lifts his gaze to look at Zayn. And there is tears in those eyes. Zayn’s heart nearly skips a beat at that sight. “Please Leeyum” he tries again. And this time, Liam does, he open the door, but as soon as he opens it, he jumps on Zayn and grabs him in a tight hug.

 

“I can’t do this, I don’t want to do this” Liam mumbles, still not leaving Zayn.

 

“Liam, look at me once”

 

“I don’t want to”

 

“What, don’t want to sing or don’t want to look at me? C’mon, I am not that ugly”

 

“Both, and you are kinda ugly” Liam says still holding Zayn tight.

 

Zayn chuckles sliding his hand up and down Liam’s back “But will you listen to me?”

 

“Go on” Liam says adjusting himself a bit so that his head is now rested on Zayn’s chest and hands wrapped around his waist.

 

“I remember, when I first heard you sing. You didn’t sing it like how I sang. It’s my song, so whenever people try to sing it, they try to imitate me by adapting themselves to my style. But you didn’t do that”

 

“I didn’t?”

 

“No, you didn’t. You sang it in your style and you know what?”

 

“What?”

 

“The best and famous performers of this world are those people who have their own style ... the style that doesn't comes by imitating others ... the style that is born with them and you are born with it”

 

Liam slowly lifts his head, stands there facing Zayn and looks in his eyes “I….I dunno what to say”

 

“You don’t have to say anything, just go there and give your best shot”

 

Liam nods “Am I gonna be all alone there?”

 

Zayn intertwines his fingers with Liam’s “No, I’ll be there, right in front of you”

 

 

*

Zayn, Louis and Simon are in the control room. While Niall, Josh, Harry and Liam are in the recording studio which is just on the other side of a glass pane.

“Are you all ready?” Simon asks them.

 

Liam looks at others they give him a thumbs up, then he looks at Zayn and smiles. “Ready”

 

Honestly, Zayn is more nervous now than he was during his own audition, he just didn’t let it show to Liam. But now since Liam is about to start singing, Zayn has lost control over his senses. Stress, nervousness, joy and love (Wait, _love_? that doesn’t matter right now) is all running through his veins.

 

He is sure Louis senses it, because he comes and stands right beside him and says “Relax mate, I haven’t heard him sing but I somehow feel this is gonna be great. If anything messes up from here, it will be all because of that dumb person playing keyboard.”

 

“Wait, you both fought again?” Zayn asks relaxing a bit

 

“If - _Today you are very kind Louis because of which you look more handsome”_ Louis says imitating Harry “and my reply to it was something like _from which part of the solar system do you belong to Harry -_ is what you call fighting then YES, we were fighting. At least I would like to call it that, because I am worried Zayn, that boy surely has some dirty intentions”

 

Zayn chuckles “But let’s be honest, you won’t mind”

 

“S’true Zayn, I won’t mind” Louis smirks

 

“On the count of three then” Says Simon. “ **3** ” Zayn’s heart is in his mouth “ **2** ” He can sense it, his heart has already stopped beating. “ **1** …Go”

 

 **_Escaping nights without you,_ ** **_with shadows on the wall_ **

**_my mind is running wild trying hard not to fall_ **

**_you told me that you love me_ ** **_but say, I'm just a friend,_ **

**_my heart is broken up into pieces,_ ** **_cos I know.._ **

**_I'll never free my soul_ **

**_it's trapped between true love and being alone……_ **

****

And Zayn feels like he is brought back to life again. The world except for Liam starts fading in front of him.

He has gone blind except he can only see Liam standing there, holding his headphone and singing. He has gone deaf except he can only now here Liam’s voice. He can now officially declare that he has lost all his senses.

Louis jerking him brings him back to participate in the real world.

 

“His voice is pure gold Zayn” he hears Simon saying.

 

“Look Zayn, I have got goose bumps” Louis says showing his hand.

 

Zayn hugs Louis instead and whisper “I knew he could do it and he did it, if somebody asks me to die at this very moment, I’ll do that happily”

 

“Shut up Zee”

 

*

 

 

Now they are all gathered in Simon’s office room. He is having a chat with his assistants and doing some paper work. While they are sitting on the couch and having a _lets bite it off and have no nails_ competition.

 

“Liam, come here and take this” Simon orders

 

Liam looks at Zayn who encourages him, so he gets up, takes the papers from Simon and sits back beside Zayn.

 

“That’s yours and your bandmates contract paper. The recording for your first song will be after couple of days, until then learn as much as possible, I mean basic technicalities and stuff like that. Zayn can help you all with it. And Zayn, in these two days give Liam as much as professional vocal trainings possible, so that he doesn’t face any problem during the actual recording” Simon announces

 

“I will Simon, don’t worry about it. Thank you”. Zayn says getting up “C’mon boys lets go”

All of them quietly nod and follow Zayn’s instructions.

 

“See to it that the glasses of my company doesn’t break because of the screaming that will happen once you are out of my cabin” Simon states

 

“Can’t promise you that” Zayn shouts back closing the door behind him.

 

Once out of the cabin, Zayn sees a wide smile on everyone’s face. Niall pecking Josh and then hugging him.

Harry hugging Louis. Wait when did that happen, but apparently Louis looks as surprised as Zayn.

 

“What?” Harry asks Louis

 

“What? What? You were hugging me. I should ask you this” Louis states

 

“I am not Olaf but I too like warm hugs” Harry tells childishly. “C’mon hug me back this time” Harry grabs Louis in a hug again.

 

“Christ, this is so awkward” Louis states but hugs Harry

 

“Not it’s not, we are awkward, I mean.. I am awkward, you are gorgeous. Wait, What?”

 

“Fuck Harry, not again. I am so not falling for this. But tell me, how many times have you watched frozen?”

 

“Not many, but I have it on my mobile so I watch it every night before I sleep”

 

“This is funny, because I don’t even doubt you on that. You are possibly the only person who can watch the same movie every night.”

 

When Zayn diverts his attention from Harry and Louis, he realizes that someone is missing. And that someone is standing just behind Zayn staring at the contract paper in his hand.

 

“Liam” Zayn jerks Liam

 

“Yeah? I mean Yah wohoooo” Liam says without any enthusiasm “We did it” he now smiles.

 

“Yes Liam, you did it congrats” Zayn pats his back.

 

“It’s all because of you. Thank you” Liam hugs Zayn

 

And from now on, if anyone wants to learn the art of surviving with a completely wrecked circulation system please contact Zayn.

 

 

*

 

“Hello Zayn”

 

“Hey Harry, C’mon in everyone” Zayn greets everyone.

 

“Where’s Lou?”

 

“Aww, so it’s come down to just Lou now, _Nice_. He is getting ready and then four of you can go where ever it is you all are planning on going”

Since Zayn has only 2 days to teach them whatever he has learnt in past 3 years, he had invited them over so that they can practice at his personal studio in his house. But Harry, Niall and Josh have proclaimed themselves pro who don’t need much practice and can cover up two days work in one, so therefore they are sneaking out to celebrate with Louis.

 

“I am ready” comes Louis’s voice

 

Harry is about to open his mouth, But then Niall stops him “Yes Harry, he looks handsome today as well, but then the problem is that, we have only got a day to celebrate and sorry to say but your speaking speed does not helps the cause. So let’s get going. I’m so excited Josh” he says already dragging Josh with him towards the door.

 

“Liam, Be the good boy you always have to be” Harry sings trying to imitate Idina Menzel.

 

“ _Christ_ , why did Disney have to make Frozen?” Louis shows off some of his acting skills by looking up and placing his hand on his chest. “But then Harry, Prince Hans turning out to be an antagonist was a real shock. Wasn’t it?”

 

“Wait, how do you know that?”

 

“Maybe because I saw the movie last night”

 

“You saw”

 

With that, they are out of the door and Zayn closes the door behind them.

 

“Go straight from here and then take the first left” Zayn informs Liam who is standing near the hallway looking at the photos hung on the wall there.

 

“Huh?”

 

“Studio. Vocal practice. Recording in two days. First single ever. Remember?

 

“Oh, right.”

 

 

*

 

**_I figured it out_ **

**_I figured it out from black and white_ **

**_Seconds and hours_ **

**_Maybe they had to take some time_ **

****

“You have got a great voice Zayn” Liam says tilting his head innocently.

 

“The last time I checked this was your vocal training session” Zayn informs without a hint of harshness. ”C’mon now you sing”

 

**_I know how it goes_ **

**_I know how it goes from wrong and right_ **

**_Silence and sound_ **

**_Did they ever hold each other tight_ **

**_Like us_ **

**_Did they ever fight_ **

**_Like us_ **

 

“Fuck I was wrong, Simon was wrong, Obama was wrong. You need no practice Liam. You are great”

 

“No, I am hungry. Do you have something to eat.”

 

“Lemme check, you wanna join me”

 

“Sure”

 

They had waffles and now they are in his library because apparently Liam wanted to see all the awards Zayn had won.

 

“God, did you make that?”

 

“No, I didn’t”

 

“Then why is it, in your study?”

 

“Umm because I wanted to keep it here”

 

“Who made it then, if you didn’t?”

 

“I have no fucking clue who makes those awards Liam” he informs as he arranges few books in a shelf behind Liam.

 

“Huh? I was talking about this painting. It’s beautiful”

 

“Oh sorry, I thought you were talking about the awards. Painting, yep that I made. Thank you by the way”

 

“Right awards, where are they?”

 

“Just look to your left” Zayn points. That’s it, a moment later it’s like Liam is watering his awards, now that’s because Liam gets all shocked looking at the number of awards and he spits out the water that he was drinking, all over the place. “Third time, this is the third time I have seen you drinking water and you have spilled more water than you have actually drank.” Zayn says patting Liam’s back

 

“I was going to be sorry about it but I’m not sorry anymore” Liam manages to say swatting Zayn’s hand away

 

“How old are you? 5?” Zayn mocks

 

“No, I am 19.” To which Zayn chuckles “Why are you laughing?”

 

“Because the fact that you are legally an adult is hysterical. How are you still so naïve and dumb?”

 

“I don’t know, but I think it’s a clue that I should leave.”

 

“No I didn’t mean that, see I wasn’t wrong when I said you were dumb”

 

“I am definitely leaving now”

 

“Where will you go?”

 

“I have a house down street, Sir”

 

“I meant, what would you do? Your friends have gone out, probably enjoying somewhere”

 

“I’ll sleep or watch t.v”

 

“Both of which you can do here”

 

“But you are being rude”

 

“I promise, I’ll not be that anymore if you stay”

 

“A toy story marathon then”

 

“Whatever you please”

 

A fully grown 19 year old lad who was more excited than a 5 year old kid to watch toy story has fallen asleep on Zayn’s lap, after sobbing for full 15 minutes watching Jessie’s flashback scene from Toy story 2.

“ _I have seen this movie more than 10 times Zayn, but I cry every single time I watch this scene_ ” that’s what Liam said.

They are so close to each other that Zayn can feel Liam’s breathe, can hear his soft snores, he can see the constant rise and fall of his chest. If in future, anybody asks Zayn that when did he realize he was fully gone for Liam, he would without a doubt remember this very moment.

Before this moment his life was just going on, he was just going with the flow but now he thinks he will start living it. Start living it with this boy. This boy who is what both sunshine and sparkles aspire to be.

Zayn doesn’t realizes when he falls asleep but he is woken up because of somebody knocking at his door. He carefully lifts Liam’s head from his lap and places it back on the couch once he gets up.

 

“Sorry champ, did I wake you? I didn’t take my keys and Harry is totally wasted so I brought him here with me, because Josh wasn’t able to handle both him and Niall. Is that fine?”

 

“Of course it is, don’t be so daft, bring him in”

 

“Hello Mr. Malik” Harry salutes “was my Leeymo a good student today?”

 

“Yes he was Harry. Louis you are right, he is completely wasted mate.”

 

“Ah, my baby is here” Harry runs towards Liam

 

“Harry he is asleep, don’t wake him up” Zayn stops Harry “Louis do something”

 

“Harry come, you need rest”

 

“And you”

 

“Rest, you definitely need rest” Louis says ignoring what Harry said

 

“Use protection”

 

“Shut up Zee, thing haven’t gone that far”

 

Louis closes his bedroom door and Zayn thinks that probably dealing with a backache tomorrow would be much less painful than the thought of leaving Liam to sleep alone in the couch. So he sits back on the couch and places Liam’s head on his lap.

A moment later he receives Louis’s message that says, “ _I think, I like him…I mean he is not that bad_ ”

“ _I could very well see that. I am happy for you mate”_ he replies.

 

 

*

 

Zayn wakes up due to sunrays falling on his face. When he slightly opens his eyes, he realizes that he is not in the same position as he fell asleep last night, instead he is laying on his back on the couch. And Liam is not there. He gets up, rubs his eye and tries to open it wide but he immediately closes it because of the sunlight that is blinding him. So he walks towards the window to close the curtains shut, so that he can avoid Mother Nature’s sunshine and frantically starts searching for his sunshine inside the house. But apparently his sunshine was causing global warming in the kitchen.

“Liam, you have burnt it, there is smoke all over. No, don’t touch it” Zayn pushes Liam, and places the hot saucepan in the sink. “What were you trying to make? Are you very hungry?”

 

“No, I am not. I thought you will be because we didn’t have anything for dinner yesterday” Liam replies sadly

 

“Okay, Let Louis wake then he’ll make something for us or maybe Harry, depending on whether or not he can cook or has a hangover.”

 

“Harry is the sole reason why I, Niall and Josh haven’t died due to starvation” Liam says casually but soon looks surprised “Wait he is here? What is he doing here?”

 

“Yep he is here, he came with Louis yesterday night because he got wasted”

 

“Oh my god” Liam worries

 

“Don’t worry he will be fine, Louis is taking care of him” Zayn informs

 

“Oh my God”

 

“Why are you so worried?”

 

“Because Harry is mad, he blurts out whatever is in his mind when he gets wasted and I think he is gonna mess up everything with Louis and once he is back to his senses, he gonna kill himself”

 

“What makes you think so?”

 

“Because I think, Harry will confess his feeling to Louis in his drunk state”

 

“What feelings?” Zayn asks just because he is Louis’s best friend

 

“I think Harry likes him” Liam confesses

 

“And I think it’s mutual” Zayn chuckles

 

“Huh?”

 

“Nothing, do you wanna see something?” Zayn drags Liam to one of his room without listening to Liam’s reply

“Welcome to a safe Heaven where I keep all my wives, Liam”

 

“Wow, I didn’t knew such thing exists in real world, I thought it only exists in movies. But then this room is so beautiful Zayn. It’s so like you. But why are there so many bottles of alcohol on display?” Liam looks genuinely curious

 

“Because I think that’s the main purpose of having a personalized bar setup and you didn’t get the wives part, did you?” Zayn mocks while already filling his glass with rum.

 

“No, I got it. But I decided to ignore it” Liam sits next to Zayn

 

“Why would you do that?” Zayn asks but Liam doesn’t answer.

“Do you wanna taste it?” Zayn raises his eyebrows at Liam who is eyeing Zayn’s glass.

 

“Nah, thank you. Thinking about tasting is as far as I am gonna go with it. I just hate the way it smells and I bet it tastes even worse” Liam rubs his nose.

 

“I agree, it tastes really bad” Zayn sips his drink

 

“Then why do you drink?”

 

“Honestly I dunno Liam, well I know it, but I don’t know how to explain it to you.”

 

“Why is the bar door open? Don’t tell be Zayn you are drinking so early in the morning” Louis stumbles in

 

Both Zayn and Liam turn to look at Louis. “Well I was, but I’ll stop once you tell be that the breakfast is ready”

 

“I made pancakes” Harry shouts from kitchen

 

“Well then, why are we still here? Liam get up, let’s go. I’m starving already” Zayn says gulping down the remaining drink.

 

 

*

 

They are gathered in Zayn’s studio now and they are in the middle of their practice session when Harry interrupts, abruptly.

 

“Are you attracted to me Louis?”

 

Louis eyes Zayn, but Zayn whisper shouts “ _I didn’t tell him anything”._ So he looks back at Harry “Huh? Who told you that? What makes you think like that?”

 

“Physics” Harry answers

 

“Okay, now this doesn’t sound like something from frozen. So carry on with your explanation” Louis sighs

 

“Physics says you cannot be attracted to something unless and until it is attracted to you” Harry says walking towards Louis who is standing against the wall.

 

Harry enters Louis’s personal space and smacks his lips on Louis’s, without waiting for any reply. Louis on the other hand doesn’t backs off, instead he leans further, grabs Harry by his hips and pulls him closer. The soft smooching has now gone violent, both of them sucking each other’s lips so hard as if they are trying to swallow each other up. Louis slides his arm under Harry’s shirt and Harry is trying to do the same. Niall and Josh both look flabbergasted. Josh is timely trying to close Niall mouth, which falls back open again. Liam hasn’t even blinked once from the time it all started and Zayn, fuck he feels like a live commentator.

 

“What was that for?” Louis asks Harry once they are not attached to each other by lips.

 

“Why did you kiss me back?” Harry questions back

 

“Because I thought you will feel bad if I don’t”

 

“S’true. But wasn’t it great? I mean, wasn’t the kiss good?” Harry asks

 

“Yeah, I would like to think so” Louis smirks

 

“Great, because a good kiss decreases the stress hormone called cortisol and increases serotonin levels in the brain.” Harry informs

 

“Are you serious right now Harry? Because honestly, I’m torn between whether I should commit a murder by killing you because of how dumb and irrational you are. Or commit a suicide after very well knowing how fully capable you are of annoying me to death and still falling for you” Louis says cupping Harry’s face.

 

“Wow, now that was some deep shit but I think the right thing to say now is _I love you too”_ Harry smiles

“I love you” Louis says shaking his head fondly at Harry

 

“Wait, we said it in reversed form, that doesn’t make sense”

 

“I don’t expect anything otherwise - from you Harry” Louis pecks Harry

 

Then Louis looks at Zayn still holding Harry’s hand “Zayn, I know that you secretly think Harry is an ace keyboardist who needs no practice. And you also want me to take him out on a date. So being the world's best _bestfriend_  that I am, how can I disobey you, so therefore goodbye and I Love You.”

 

Apparently Louis was not waiting for Zayn’s reply because he was already dragging Harry out of their flat.

 

“I guess we’ll have to proceed without Harry then” Zayn announces

 

“Zayn, so you think I and Josh are not ace in what we do?” Niall frowns

 

“I never said that”

 

“You just did that by asking us to continue practicing” Josh tells

 

“What do you want me to do then?”

 

“Nothing, just let us go and we will meet you tomorrow at Simon’s office” Niall says already standing and gesturing Josh to do the same.

 

“Well it doesn’t looks like you guys are gonna stay if I say no”

 

“Thank you Zayn, we love you too, Bye” Niall chirps dragging Josh out.

 

“Well Liam, I think even you are ace. Do you also wanna go?” Zayn turns to look at Liam “Fuck, why are you crying?”

 

“Nothing, it’s just..it’s just that it was very sweet” Liam says wiping off his tears

 

“What was very sweet? Niall and Josh’s self-proclamation of being ace?”

 

“No, Louis and Harry’s declaration of love” Liam corrects

 

“Oh that, yes it was.” Zayn smiles

 

“But, the only thing confusing about it was the physics part. I thought that rule is only limited to non-living things. I had no idea it is applicable to human emotions as well”

 

 _I wish it was_ is what Zayn wants to say but he settles with, “the things you learnt in school is right Liam. Both Harry and Louis are mad.”

 

“The word school reminds me of Gemma, and that reminds me that I need to text her and tell her that Harry is dating someone” Liam makes a note to himself

 

“Who Gemma?” Zayn asks

 

“She is my best friend since school time and she is Harry’s sister”

 

“Oh” is all what Zayn says with something stinging to his chest which he would not like to name jealousy.

 

“You never asked me why I used to work in a bar” Liam says after a moment

 

“I thought you won’t tell me about it” Zayn says

 

“Why wouldn’t I?”

 

“I dunno, I guessed it would be a sad story that you wouldn’t like to share or something”

 

“It is sad but not a very sad story”

 

“Tell me then”

 

“The day you were at bar was actually my first day at work” Liam starts “The day before that, Gemma had invited me to see her perform with the band. So I went that night, stood in a corner and saw Gemma perform. In the middle of her performance people started throwing money at her like they did to me when I was performing. So the moment she came off the stage I asked her to swear on our friendship that she won’t continue doing this. But since she needed money for her university, I promised her that I’ll help her out with it” Liam tells

 

Fuck, what is this boy? An angel? He seems to become tenfold more kind, naïve and a perfect human being every passing second Zayn gets to know him. “That’s very nice of you, Liam. I guess you love her a lot then”

 

“Oh, yes I do. And I would have done that for any girl, and Gemma she is more like my sister Zayn. I’ll do anything for her”

 

A sting in Zayn’s chest starts disappearing and he simply nods.

 

“I think, I should go. Take care Zee… Zayn. Don’t start drinking once I leave, okay?” Liam gets up and walks towards the door.

 

“I don’t make promises Liam” Zayn informs

 

Liam looks back at Zayn as if he wants to say something. But just blinks once and turns around

“Liam” Zayn calls

 

“Yeah?” Liam looks back once again

 

“Nah, nothing… see you tomorrow at 10 then, bye”

 

Liam nods and closes the door behind him.

 

A couple months back, Zayn didn’t even know who this boy was. Fuck, he didn’t even know Liam existed. And now, at this very moment he realizes that he has been waiting for this boy since forever.

 

 

*

 

“I can’t do this. I don’t want to do this”

 

It’s like déjà vu if you ask Zayn. There is no one in the recording room except the two of them, because Liam apparently thought that being in the recording room ten minutes before the recording starts will help him to ease out a bit. But then he was under a misconception because he was getting more and more nervous as seconds were ticking by. Liam has rested his head on Zayn’s chest and is holding him tight by his waist exactly like that day.

 

“Shut up Liam, You know you can do it and in case you don’t, then well fuck you because I know you can do it”

 

“But what if I mess up everything? What if Simon doesn’t like it this time around? What if I mess up with the lyrics? What if I start coughing? What if the mic stops working? Anything can happen Zayn. What if………”

 

“Kiss me” Zayn says. Liam goes quiet but he hasn’t still lifted his head from Zayn’s chest.

“kiss me” Zayn tries again. Liam slowly lifts his head, they both stand facing each other now. Liam first lifts his gaze to look into Zayn’s eyes, then drops his gaze down to Zayn’s lips and leans forward to press their lips together. Liam’s lips feels much softer than what Zayn expected it to be. According to Zayn this kiss can top the list of _most amazing kisses_ if there was one. None of them fighting for dominance, it’s both slow and fast at the same time. With Liam’s hand running through his hair and and Zayn sliding his hand inside Liam’s shirt to feel the bare skin of his back, this moment can fucking go down as the best moment in Zayn’s entire life.

With the noise of somebody turning the door knob they quickly separate and straighten themselves up.

Louis, Harry, Niall, Josh, Simon and two of his assistants walk in.

 

“I hope you have thought all the technicalities, Zayn.” Simon asks. Zayn nods and walks away to stand beside Louis. “Good then, C’mon you lot get in there” Simon says patting Liam’s back, who hasn’t looked up once since everyone stumbled in. He nods slowly and obliges Simon.

“On the count of three then, **3** ” Zayn closes his eyes “ **2** ” he tries to breathe but fuck he can’t “ **1** ” he opens his eyes at the speed of lightening because….

 

**_Shut the door_ **

**_Turn the light off_ **

**_I wanna be with you_ **

**_I wanna feel your love_ **

**_I wanna lay beside you_ **

**_I cannot hide this_ **

**_Even though I try…….._ **

 

Liam sings the whole song looking at Zayn.

 

* ** _  
_**

“Great job boys… let me have a word with my team and fix a release date. Until then you all do whatever you guys do. Party hard” Simon declares.

 

Once out of Simon’s office, they all scream and group hug. Once separated Zayn tries to act all formal by holding his right hand out for Liam to shake “Congratulation”

 

“Someone once told me kissing is more hygienic than a handshake” Liam says and presses his lips on Zayn’s

 

After the kiss Zayn asks “Who told you that?”

 

“Harry”

 

“Of course, it had to be Harry”

 

*

 

“Moments” is released after few days. The song received great review from the critics. It is the No.1 single at the moment, it is doing great overseas. Simon is offering them more songs. They are in the headlines of literally every newspaper. It’s like they have taken the whole world by storm.

Harry and Louis are out, house hunting because they wanna move in together. Niall and Josh are shifting and arranging things in their new house. Liam has moved in with Zayn and he is still the same old Liam. Proof?

Well he is watching Toy story sitting on the couch beside Zayn and having popcorn that is spread all over his lap, _because that’s the main purpose of a loose sweatpant Zayn, one should empty the box of snacks on it and then have it from there._

“Liam, I think I’m falling for you” Zayn says casually running his hand through Liam’s hair.

 

Liam sits straight immediately and faces Zayn “Are you drunk, is this the alcohol speaking?”

 

Zayn chuckles at that “No, I am not, I promise I am completely sober”

 

“Why all of a sudden then?” Liam says dusting the remaining popcorn off his pants

 

“Liam, stop doing that. The place is getting untidy”

 

“I don’t care, answer my question” Liam’s hands on his hips now

 

“Well because I am lazy and I sleep all day”

 

“Huh?”

 

“People say you can’t fall asleep when you are falling for someone. So therefore.” Zayn mocks

 

“Please Zayn, be serious” he pouts

 

“Liam, _oh my god_ stop pouting, you are one of its kind. You with those big pouty lips of yours should be kept on display in some museum” Zayn informs

 

“Zayn” Liam says in his fail attempt of showing anger.

 

“Okay, I think I have lost more weight than necessary now, trying to run away from my feelings for you, so I finally decided to fall for you” Zayn smiles

 

Liam replies by smacking his lips on Zayn’s.

 

“What about you, Liam?”

 

“What about me, Zayn?” he pecks Zayn’s lips again

 

“Liam?”

 

“I like the way you taste Zayn” Liam pecks his lips again

 

“Now who is not being serious” Zayn says leaning his head back, not allowing Liam to kiss him.

 

“I am a kind of guy who still sings the whole alphabet to see what letter comes next, I still count with my finger sometimes and also use my toes if the number is somewhat big. I have never been serious Zee. Always was that dumb child who can never ever be somebody’s first choice. I used to feel I have never been very important to someone. But Zayn, you look at me like no one ever has before. You look at me like I mean something to you. Even before all this fame thing happened. When nobody recognized my talent, you did. You have brought stability in my life, you have shown me direction. It’s like you lead, I follow. No questions asked. And I like that, I like it this way. And since because you are leading and you have fallen, I fall as well. I hope, I have cleared all your queries. C’mon now let me kiss you” Liam says pulling Zayn by his collar and he smacks their lips together.

 

Zayn immediately shuts his eyes, not because he is one of those who close their eyes while kissing but because _fuck_  he doesn’t wants to start crying now.

 

 

*

 

Zayn and Liam are walking across the street, holding hands, going to meet their friends at a fine dine down street when they see people with cameras following them and they realize that they are getting mobbed.

“Run” Zayn says and they do.

 

“That was fun” Liam informs walking towards the table already occupied by Harry, Louis, Niall and Josh.

 

“Yes, it was” Zayn leans in to kiss Liam

 

“If you guys are gonna act so couply all the time, I don’t think this is the planet I want to live in anymore.” Louis greets

 

“Says who?” Zayn asks once he gets settled

 

“Louis Tom….”

 

“linson, who was on the front page of the newspaper yesterday for getting caught having PDA with Harry Styles” Zayn finishes

 

“Whatever”

 

“Even after you got brutally insulted by your best friend I still love you Lou” Harry pats Louis’s back

 

“Witnessing so much of true love makes me hungry” Niall states

 

They had their dinner and they are now discussing about the MTV Music Awards that’s gonna happen tomorrow when,

 

“Niall” Harry scolds

 

“We are out in public” Liam informs

 

“Behave yourself” Zayn states

 

“How do you know it was me?” Niall frowns

 

“Who else other then you? But then, let me take this stinky moment to quote myself” Louis says

 

“Go ahead, babe” Harry chimes

 

“A loud fart is respectable, a medium fart is tolerable, a slight fart is fearful but a salient fart like yours Niall is unbearable” Louis finishes and they all start laughing.

 

Well except for Niall who leans into Josh “Josh, they are all laughing at me”

 

“Haw babe, don’t worry. They all have made a special place in hell for themselves by doing this to you” Josh pacifies Niall while trying to control his own laugh.

 

"We love you too Niall" they all say together.

 

 

*

 

“Zayn, where were you? I was searching for you from when” Liam worries

 

“I was at a bar Liam, where are others?”

 

“They have already gone in, the show is about to start. I was waiting for you, come lets go”

 

“I am not coming in Liam”

 

“Why not?”

 

“I don’t like the atmosphere in there, I feel suffocated. But I’ll meet you as soon as the show is over. Then we can go back home together. Now c’mon go inside and have your moment, live your dreams”

 

“But….”

 

“Can we take your interview, Sir” a journalist interrupts

 

“Sorry, not now I’m…..”

 

“Liam, don’t. Don’t ever do that. Do you get me? Let her take your interview” Zayn says already moving away from Liam “I’ll meet you later, bye”

 

Liam does as Zayn asked him to do. But keeps looking at Zayn sadly, until Zayn turns and walks away

 

 

*

 

He is sitting all alone in an almost empty bar except for two gents sitting right behind his back. He is halfway through his glass of whiskey when he looks up to watch Liam collecting his award for best male debutant, on T.V that is setup on the front side wall of the bar. Liam is smiling so hard that those big brown eyes are hardly visible anymore. Zayn at this moment has butterflies in his stomach because of how happy and proud he is of that boy who is now on the stage kissing the award in his hand.

 

“Have you heard his song?” The gents sitting behind Zayn starts speaking.

 

“Yeah I did, I have to agree that the boy is extremely talented” the other one replies

 

Zayn feels a sense of pride fill his chest.

 

“I heard he is dating Zayn Malik”

 

“That boozer?”

 

“Yeah, in fact many say that Zayn is the one who gave this boy his first break, he is the one who asked Simon to give Liam a chance”

 

“That’s what famous people do, give a newcomer a chance, they make naïve entrants be ever so thankful to them in return. And then use them as their sex toy. And after that if they are bored they throw them away”

 

“S’true I agree, there are so many in this music industry itself. But I don’t think Zayn would fall down to that extent”

 

“I disagree with you, haven’t you read those articles which shows, Zayn losing all his senses and throwing tantrums in his intoxicated state? That boozer doesn’t know what he does once he is wasted. I am very sure that soon Liam will appear with a black eye and abuse or beaten marks.”

 

Zayn is trembling, he doesn’t know what to do, what to say. He takes a deep breath, gets up and walks slowly out of the bar.

 

 

*

 

He is standing in the balcony of his flat, he is all wet because he opted to walk to his flat, while it was raining because he doesn’t give two fucks about it. He has a bottle of Smirnoff in his hand and he is drinking from it directly. It’s been a couple of hours now that he is standing there thinking and replaying the conversation he heard in the bar and he realizes that _fuck_ , what they said can be true. Of course he won’t beat Liam on purpose. In fact he would beat himself to death before doing that but fuck what if he raises his hands on Liam when he is drunk. And damn, Liam is destroying his own image by staying with Zayn. Dunno how many people like those guys back in the bar have taggged Liam as a sex toy. A mere thought of it makes him cringe. _Fuck_ he needs to do something, he needs to do something so that Liam’s just started career doesn’t comes to an end. He need to protect Liam, protect Liam from those evil people. And protect Liam from him. Yep, that’s what he needs to do.

 

“Zayn, _my god_ , where were you?” Liam enters the house and comes near the balcony where Zayn is standing. “Zee, come in, why are you standing out there? It’s raining.”

 

“Don’t touch me” Zayn swats Liam’s hands away

 

“Your clothes are wet already, come in Zayn. You will fall sick otherwise.”

 

“How does that matter to you? You enjoyed over there, I saw how happy you were over there. Fuck off now Liam” Zayn screams but doesn’t meets Liam’s eyes

 

“Please Zayn, come in. I’ll do whatever you ask me to do, once you get in. I promise” Liam says pinching the skin on his neck.

 

 _Fuck_ Zayn is a horrible person, he can see Liam is getting hurt because of his behavior but if he doesn’t do this right now, he can cause Liam much more hurt in future.

 

Once he gets inside, Liam closes the balcony door and goes to search for a towel. He hands a towel to Zayn which he throws away. “Liam don’t try to show how nice you are and how horrible I am. Just go away” Zayn orders still not meeting Liam’s eye

 

“Right now? It’s raining outside. And besides where will I go? ” Liam says

 

“You are not a baby, Liam. Go anywhere, I don’t give a damn. Just get out of my house” Zayn says pointing towards the door.

 

“Okay” Liam picks up the towel from the floor and again hands it to Zayn, which he takes this time around “I am going, just let me collect few of my stuffs” Liam requests

 

Zayn is surely gonna go to hell, he knows it. But then it’s much better than seeing Liam go through hell in front of him and because of him.

 

“No need to collect your stuffs, go away right this instant” he orders and Liam follows it like how he once said _no questions asked_.

 

Liam is about to open the door when Zayn calls “Liam”

 

And Liam just comes running back and hugs Zayn.

“I knew you would call be back” Liam kisses Zayn’s cheeks and wipes the tears rolling down there.

 

“I am sorry Liam. I am a horrible person, you don’t deserve this.”

 

“I deserve it Zayn, I shouldn’t have attended the award show without you. I am sorry” Liam apologizes

 

 _Fuck_ Liam is now apologizing for attending the show without him, great job Zayn

 

“No, no Liam. It’s not your fault. I am the one who should say sorry. I speak rubbish when I am drunk, because of which I think it would be better if you leave me and move on” Zayn tries to control his tears

 

“Zayn come” Liam drags him to their bedroom “You need rest”

 

 

*

 

They are standing in the center of their bedroom, facing each other.

 

“And you need a better life” Zayn cups Liam’s face

 

“I am living a better life, Zayn. You are here with me, there is nothing more I can ask from life”

 

“Liam, listen to me babe I am horrible, I become very cruel when I’m drunk. I lose all my senses once I am wasted. I can end up hitting you”

 

“You won’t do that”

 

“Yes, _fuck_ I can”

 

“I wasn’t asking you that. I was telling you that because I know you would never ever hit me, no matter in what state you are in”

 

“How can you be so sure?”

 

“Because you love me”

 

“No, I don’t”

 

“But you told me so that day”

 

“I lied”

 

“NO, you didn’t”

 

“I lied to you the whole time, that’s the only truth” Zayn manages to lie

 

“But then, I didn’t.”

 

“That is because you are very naïve and good Liam. And I am bad, I’ll always be bad and the most fucked up thing about this is, it makes me feel good to be bad. You know what the outside world thinks? They think that you are my sex toy, I am using you for mere pleasure and once I am bored of fucking you, I am gonna throw you away. Which is why you need to leave me and move on with your life because by staying with me you are spoiling your own image. You shouldn’t fall in love with me, Liam”

 

Liam places his right hand on Zayn’s mouth to shut him up and lifts his gaze to look into Zayn’s eyes. The look Liam gives him is so earnest like he wants to convey hundreds of unspoken words just through those big brown eyes. Liam slowly intertwines the fingers of his left hand with Zayn’s and guides him towards the bed. Liam is quiet, still hasn’t uttered a word. But his hand trails up on Zayn’s wet shirt and he starts unbuttoning it. Removes the shirt off Zayn’s arms and lets it fall to the ground. Zayn’s jeans soon follow his shirt on the floor and after not so long Liam’s clothes add up to the pile. They both climb on their bed. Liam snuggles and pins Zayn down as he climb on him. He brackets Zayn’s hip with his thighs, then leans forward and presses their lips together. They haven’t spoken a word yet, but then something in the look Liam is giving him - tells Zayn that his interference or for that matter his interruption wouldn’t be much appreciated, so he lets Liam continue. Liam starts trailing kisses to every inch of his body starting from his mouth, the neck, chest, stomach, hips and then… Oh fuck. Zayn arches a bit, digs his nails into the sheets and starts moaning as a result of what Liam is doing between his thighs.

 

Zayn bites Liam’s shoulder when he comes. Liam winces in pain because of it, gets up a bit, supports his body on his elbow, still lying above Zayn and looks down at him. Liam’s facial expression changes to something very pitiful as he wipes Zayn’s tears. _Those tears_ were there, not because their love making was painful or something but fuck those were happy tears. Zayn never felt so complete before. Liam filled the space inside him so perfectly that it made him feel so whole and contented for the first time.

 

“It was me who sucked and fucked you, Zayn” Liam says resting their forehead together “Does the world know this? No, they don’t. They don’t know anything. You are more responsible for my success than me myself. You were there with me when I was nothing and now when I am something, I want you here with me. Do you get that?”

 

“But this will ruin your career, Liam. Please try and understand” Zayn requests

 

“Zayn you know what my mom used to say?”

 

“How will I know that?”

 

Liam chuckles “She used to say that, It’s very easy to choose between good and bad but it’s very difficult to choose between two good things. But then apparently moms can also be wrong”

 

“Why is she wrong?” Zayn gets confused

 

“Because to me, it will never be even slightly difficult to choose between two good things, for that matters two great things. By which I mean, I’ll always choose you Zayn, above my career. Without even giving a second thought to it.

And nobody in this fucked up world can tell me to not fall in love with you, Not even you” Liam kisses him

 

Those words scare Zayn to death.

 

 

*

 

The next day Simon had called Liam to work on the lyrics of his next single. So Zayn decided that he will help Harry and Louis with their shifting.

 

“I am tired Louis” Harry says walking to where Louis and Zayn were sitting on the couch. “Can I sit on your dick?”

 

“Gross” Zayn cringes in disgust

 

“Harry that was…….”

 

“C’mon Lou,” Harry interrupts and starts singing “you think I’m funny when I tell the punchline right”

 

“Oh yes” Louis agrees

 

“Please don’t start kissing, because I want to talk to you Louis” Zayn informs quickly

 

“Okay I’ll go and sleep then, join me as quick as possible Louis. Love you”

 

“Love you too” Louis shouts back

 

“Lou, I want to concentrate back on my career, for Liam. To give him a better life, so the world doesn’t tag him as _a_ _person_ _who is dating a loser_ ”

 

“Praise the lord and his miracles. _Zayn Malik concentrating back on his career_ this has to go down in history as the best plot twist ever”

 

“You are over reacting” Zayn chuckles

 

“Maybe I am, but I am so relieved. All those debts, diminishing stardom……. _fuck_ it’s like you have got 99 problems and now 120 out of it can be solved since you have decided to focus back on your career. I am so happy” Louis hugs Zayn

 

 

*

 

Louis has arranged a gig for Zayn. And Zayn is on the stage about to sing when he realizes that not many people turned up, but he still continues singing with a smile for those few people gathered over there.

He is in the middle of the gig when the mic stops working, he finds no technicians around who can help him out. Soon he hears Louis’s voice coming from backstage, it sounds as if he is yelling at someone. So he apologizes to the audience and runs backstage.

 

“Max, this is bullshit. You can’t just do that. That’s a sheer insult to an artist” Zayn hears Louis scolding the organizer.

 

“But Louis, didn’t you see there were hardly any people out there, it was simply a waste of time and other resources” Max says

 

“So this was done on purpose then, how could you?” Zayn yells

 

“Zayn back off, I’ll handle this” Louis says

 

“How dare you, did that” Zayn questions the organizer, ignoring Louis’s comment

 

“Look at your attitude Zayn, this is the exact reason why nobody wants to work with you. You are losing your super stardom status. You are not _The Zayn Malik_ anymore” Max informs

 

“Shut up Max, ignore what he said Zayn. C’mon lets go” Louis pleads

 

“You know what Max, you can keep your mic” Zayn hands over the mic to Max “and I’ll keep my attitude.” He turns to Louis “C’mon Lou, let’s go, I need a drink to calm down the anger boiling inside me”

 

Zayn and Louis are walking towards the exit door when Max shouts back “You are angry, not because you aren’t popular anymore. But because your boyfriend is more popular than you.”

 

“That’s not true Lou, I swear that’s not true” Zayn mumbles to Louis

 

“I know that Zayn” Louis assures “Fuck you Max” he snaps back at Max

 

 

*

 

“Am back” Liam enters the house

 

“Welcome back babe, How was your day?” Zayn greets

 

“Zayn, put your glass away from my property” Liam nearly trips as he rushes and sits on Zayn’s lap “Your lips, it’s _Liam Payne’s property_ and I strictly prohibit trespassing.” Liam smacks their lips together

 

Then Liam sadly looks at the glass full of whiskey in Zayn’s hand, but immediately looks up at Zayn and smiles as he realizes Zayn is staring at him.

 

“Payne you are deliberately inducing my heart into cardiac arrest by smiling like that. _Fuck_ , that smile of yours can bring world peace. Look I can already feel the tensions of the world reducing.” Zayn says tilting Liam’s chin up.

 

“Well, those compliments are making me hungrier. I am starvi……”

 

The doorbell goes off

 

“I ordered us a dinner from your favorite restaurant, you bring plates and forks from the kitchen. I’ll answer the door” Zayn says

 

“Can I get an autograph” the delivery boy requests after Zayn pays off the bill.

 

“Sure” Zayn is about to sign on the book given to him when…

 

“Not yours, No sorry, I mean you can sign as well but I wanted Liam’s autograph”

 

“That’s fine. Wait I’ll call him” Zayn says, but there is heaviness in his voice which _fuck_ even he doesn’t know where it comes from. “Liam, come here”

 

Liam must have heard everything because he looks sad, but he does as Zayn says and gives the boy his autograph.

 

 

*

 

Zayn can feel the dampness due to Liam breathe on his neck and can hear his soft snores. Zayn is still not over the fact that Liam is so close to him. The thought still makes his stomach twist and an involuntary smile creeps on his face.

But a small flashback of what all happened today, makes him restless. He needs to calm down. He needs a drink.

He slowly gets up, rests Liam’s head on the pillow and tip toes out of the bedroom to his bar.

 

After gulping down a whole bottle of whiskey, he feels like he should start breaking something. So he does, starts pushing the bar stools down, throws the empty glass bottle across the room and _mind you_ he is very careful about that, he makes sure that he doesn’t even touch a sealed bottle. Then comes the wine glasses and _fuck_ there are so many of them, but as the proverb goes _More glasses makes Zayn merrier (_ and if anybody thinks that the proverb is wrong then, well fuck you because Zayn doesn’t care.) He likes it, the sound those glasses are making while breaking. Strangely enough, he finds this sound familiar. He feels like he has heard this same sound within him all throughout today. And fuck he doesn’t wants to go there or think about that, so he continues throwing the glasses on the wall opposite to him when….

 

“Zayn” Liam appears at the door, he looks worried. Fuck he looks terrorized

 

“Liam, go back to bed” Zayn orders trying to stand straight

 

“I can’t, because of the noise”

 

“Oh sorry, my baby is awake because of the noise I am creating. Huh? Don’t worry, I’ll throw it slowly this time around. You, go sle…..” He trips and nearly falls because of the bar stool that he pushed to the floor.

 

“ZAYN” Liam runs and helps Zayn up, back to his feet

 

“Leeyum, you know wwhat? I am not famous any-anymore, no-nobody wants my autograph and people apparentlyyyyy think that, I am” he points at himself “jealous of you” he says poking violently at Liam’s chest.

 

“Zayn stop, please babe. I have told you this before, I don’t give a damn about what people think. All I worry about is _You_. And you getting drunk and breaking these glasses is scaring me” Liam cries, tears rolling down his cheeks

 

“Great! Now you are scared of me. You think I’ll hurt you?” he asks, malice filled in his voice.

Because Liam is coming more closer to him he slightly pushes him away, so that Liam backs off. But apparently he had very less knowledge about his own strength because Liam is taken aback by the sudden push, he trips on the same bar stool from which he saved Zayn earlier and his forehead collides on the floor that is covered with broken glass pieces.

 

“Zayn, I am not scared of you. _God_ , I am scared for you. I am scared because this will affect your health” Liam says, getting up himself and cupping Zayn’s face.

 

The blood tripping down Liam’s face is enough to bring Zayn back to his senses.

“ _Shit,_ Liam I am sorry, I am a horrible person. Wait, let me take you to the hospital.” Zayn hurries to find the car keys.

 

“No, I’ll manage this. You driving in this state is not very favorable. Please Zayn, listen to me” Liam follows Zayn to stop him.

 

“Okay I am calling the doctor here then….” Liam falls down “Fuck Liam, open your damn eyes. Don’t do this to me” Zayn cries

 

 

*

 

“He fell unconscious because of the excess blood loss, he is fine now but he will be kept under observation for the next 12 hours. You can take him home at around 6 in the evening. Now go see him Zayn, he is been asking for you since the moment he opened his eyes.” the doctor pats his shoulder

 

Liam blinks his eyes open as soon as Zayn places his hand on his forehead. “Hey babe, How are you feeling? I am so sorry.”

 

“Zayn, sing for me” Liam smiles

 

“What? Now? Here?”

 

“Yes, sing for me”

 

“But…”

 

“Please”

 

Zayn sits down besides Liam, pecks his cheeks and

 

**_Your hand fits in mine_ **

**_Like it’s made just for me_ **

**_But bear this in mind_ **

**_It was meant to be_ **

**_And I'm joining up the dots_ **

**_With the freckles on your cheeks_ **

**_And it all makes sense to me_ **

 

“C’mon you sing now Liam”

 

**_I know you've never loved_ **

**_The crinkles by your eyes_ **

**_When you smile_ **

**_You've never loved_ **

**_Your stomach or your thighs_ **

**_The dimples in your back_ **

**_At the bottom of your spine_ **

**_But I love them endlessly_ **

**“** Let’s sing together” Liam requests tilting his head sideways like a 3 year old kid.

 

**_I won’t let these little things_ **

**_Slip out of my mouth_ **

**_But if I do_ **

**_It's you_ **

**_Oh it's you_ **

**_They add up to_ **

**_I'm in love with you_ **

**_And all these little things_ **

****

The twinkle in Liam’s eyes when he smiles now, is the most beautiful thing Zayn has ever seen.

 

“You don’t have to be sorry about anything Zayn, I know you didn’t do that on purpose. But please make a promise that you will never drink again.” Liam pleads cupping Zayn’s face

 

“I’ll try” Zayn says instead

 

“Aww, you guys are so cute” Harry coos

 

“From when were you both standing there and listening to us?” Zayn asks leaning back on his chair

 

“Since you both started singing. I swear to God that you both should start singing together. Your voices are made for each other”

 

“Louis, what did you just say?” Liam gets all excited

 

“Your voices are made for each other” Louis repeats in confusion

 

“Yeah, but before that you said that we should start singing together.” Liam looks excitedly at Zayn “that’s what we need to do Zayn, sing together. I’ll soon talk to Simon and end my contract with him”

 

“Are you mad, you are absolutely not gonna do, that.” Zayn scolds

 

“You can’t tell me what to do and what not to do, unless we are in the bed together.” Liam smirks “I have decided, I’m gonna sing with you or not gonna sing at all.”

 

“Moron Tommo” Zayn pointedly looks at Louis “All your bloody fault”

 

 

*

 

They are back from the hospital and now Liam is lying beside him on their bed.

 

“Zayn”

 

“Yeah?”

 

“Why did you start drinking?”

 

Honestly, Zayn doesn’t remember why did he start drinking, but he knows why he continued doing so. It’s not a morally acceptable reason or an excuse but it’s just that, he got addicted.

“So Liam, what happened was, one day I couldn’t quench my thirst with water. But then I was so thirsty that when someone handed me a glass of whiskey, I couldn’t say _no,_ so I tried it and somehow that helped, it quenched my thirst”

 

“But it isn’t healthy Zayn, people die due to drinking alcohols”

 

“But I don’t drink to die, I die to drink” Zayn smirks

 

“Even after you know that I am not that intelligent, you say things that confuses me”

 

“Sorry, go to sleep now” Zayn chuckles

 

“First, promise me that you will start living a healthy life from now onwards. No alcohol, No nothing”

 

“I promise” Zayn kisses Liam goodnight

 

NO NOTHING.

All the thoughts in Zayn’s mind are running so fast that he can’t sleep.

The thought of Liam deciding to sacrifice everything for him, the thought of Liam ruining his own career for him, the thought that Liam deserves something much better than him, the thought that those gents in the bar were right about Zayn hitting Liam, the thought that ZAYN HIT LIAM.

 

How could he hit Liam? One has to be really heartless to do that. And _shit,_ Zayn is that, a heartless human being.

He is also hopeless, he has self-destroyed his career and if he starts a career with Liam, he is going to destroy even Liam’s future.

He can never ever reciprocate the unconditional love Liam has given him and _damn_ continue giving him.

Liam is like a ball of sunshine, the moment he stepped into Zayn’s life, the words like love and passion got its meaning.

But Zayn’s heart says that, he isn’t worth Liam’s love. And as people say, in the matters of heart, one must listen to their heart. So Zayn does that, he listens to his heart and decides.

His decision is surely gonna hurt Liam, he knows that very well. But then, Liam will sooner or later realize that no matter how strong their relationship was, life doesn’t end when relationship ends. And Liam will move on.

 

Its five in the morning, Zayn gets up from the bed, gets dressed and walks over to Liam because _fuck_ he wants to see those brown eyes once before he leaves. “Liam”

 

“Yeah?” Liam starts rubbing his eyes

 

“Nah, nothing. Bye” Zayn pecks his lips

 

“Where are you going?” Liam is wide awake now

 

“Healthy lifestyle, remember? I’m going for a morning jog” Zayn get up and immediately walks towards the door because there is hardly any will power left in him to sit there and answer Liam’s question or even look at him.

 

“See you soon” he hears Liam say.

 

 

*

 

Standing there on the edge of cliff, the only thought that crosses his mind, is that, he has to do this for Liam, his betterment, so that he continues what he is doing and be happy forever.

With that thought he is about to end his life when –

 

Someone holds his hand, he looks to his side in bewilderment.

 

Liam is there, not looking at Zayn but down to their intertwined fingers.

 

“Zayn” Liam says, viewing the landscape in front of them

 

“Yeah?” Zayn sees tears rolling down Liam’s face.

 

“Let’s do it together, let’s jump together” he says, finally looking into Zayn’s eyes

 

Those brown eyes clearly conveying, how wrong Zayn was, how wrong he was for thinking that Liam would ever be happy without him.

 

“I am so sorry Liam” He grabs Liam into a tight hug. Because Zayn may have thousands of reasons to die, but he just needs one reason to live and that one reason is in his arms now.

 

“Your apology will be only accepted if you agree to sing with me, marry me and have babies with me”

 

“What?” Zayn befuddles

 

“Sorry, I mean adopt babies with me”

 

“Did we human being go through so much evolution for you to be so dumb?” Zayn asks with fondness.

 

“Is that a _YES_?”

 

“Of course” Zayn smacks his lips on Liam’s and starts sucking his bottom lips.

 

“I am so excited” Liam declares once they are not attached to each other by their lips

 

“Me too”

 

“I can’t wait to tell this to Harry” Liam says jumping and walking towards the car

 

“Liam” Zayn calls

 

Liam turns around “Yeah?”

 

“I love you” Liam comes running back, he pecks Zayn’s lips and hugs him.

 

And now that he has said it, he realizes that these were the exact three words he always wanted to say every time he called out Liam. Even that time, when he didn’t know Liam’s name and had called out the _owner of a broken mobile phone_ from across the empty road.

 

**Author's Note:**

> If you think it was terrible (which I know it was), I would really like to apologize. The only excuse I can provide is that this is my first attempt ever. Sorry :(  
> It's an Aashiqui-2 AU (Bollywood).  
> But the original plotline had a major character death and I am too weak for stuffs like that, so I made few changes.
> 
> Mommy... spread the word that your daughter is terrible with words)  
> 


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